1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the art of electrical energy storage devices and more particularly, to an electrode of an electrochemical cell or capacitor produced by a physical vapor deposition process.
2. Prior Art
Physical vapor plating involves introducing a material of interest into a vacuum and heating to a temperature at which the material reaches its vapor pressure. When molecular rays of the vaporized material attain a sufficient energy such that their mean free path causes them to impinge upon and precipitate onto a substrate, a coating of the material is formed. While physical vapor deposition processes are known in the art, as of yet, they have not been used to deposit an electrode active material onto a substrate to provide an electrode component for an electrochemical cell and to deposit a semiconductive or pseudocapacitive material onto a substrate to provide an electrode component for a capacitor.